Versions Guide

The Radio Series

In 1978, the world was first introduced to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the form of a radio series on BBC Radio 4. It starred Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGiven, Mark Wing-Davey, Stephen Moore, Susan Sheridan and Peter Jones as the book. There were six half-hour episodes airing from March 8th to April 12th. It quickly gained popularity and success, and picked up a few awards as well. Adams would often write and re-write during the recording period, carefully scrutinizing over every word to make sure it was as funny as it could possible be.

In late 1978, a seventh episode of the series aired, and came to be known as a Christmas special simply because it aired on December 24th. This episode ressurected characters that were previously thought dead and served as a bridge between the first and second series.

In 1980 a second radio series was written with five more episodes. It aired from January 13th to the 25th.

In 2004, BBC Radio 4 aired a tertiary phase (also known as the first of the "new series") from September 21st to October 26th. It was based on the third book, Life the Universe, and Everything. Since there was a major conflict with the ending of the second book and the ending of the second radio series, the new radio series began as the book did, and dismissed the entire second series as a hallucination. Most of the surviving members of the cast return, including Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern, Stephen Moore, Susan Sheridan, and Mark Wing-Davey. Peter Jones is replaced by William Franklyn as the Book. Douglas Adams also makes a cameo appearance as Agrajag using clips from his audio recordings of his books to make this possible.

In 2005, a fourth and fifth radio series based on So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish and Mostly Harmless were recorded and are set to air in May of this year. The scripts for the new series were written by Dirk Maggs with the aid of instructions left by Adams before he died.


The Books

In 1979, Douglas Adams wrote the first book based on the first four episodes of the radio series. The book also included a lot of new material and trimmed out some other parts. The book became immensely popular as well and hit number one on the best seller list.

In late 1980, Douglas wrote the second book in the series, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, based on the second radio series and the last two episodes from the first radio series (the second book ended the same way the first radio series ended). Again, there were several variations in the book that Adams wrote in. For instance, he introduced a character known as the "Dish of the Day" (taken from the stage adaption), which was not included in the original radio series but would apear again in the TV series.

In 1982 a third book was written called Life, the Universe and Everything where our favourite heroes return to save the Universe from being destroyed. In 1984 Douglas Adams wrote the fourth book, So Long and Thanks For All the Fish. This book centered more on Arthur's love life, mainly his relationship with a woman named Fenchurch. Eight years later, in 1992, Adams wrote a long-awaited fifth installment, Mostly Harmless. This book showed Arthur searching for a place in the Universe to call home, and ends rather bleakly. The series came to be known as a "Trilogy of Five".


Television

In 1981, a six-part television mini series was created and aired on the BBC, and starred several of the same actors from the radio series, including Simon Jones, Mark Wing-Davey, Stephen Moore, and Peter Jones. It also starred David Dixon as Ford Prefect and Sandra Dickinson as Trillian. It followed the story of the original radio series' episodes. It was directed by Alan Bell and aired from January 5th to February 9th, 1981.


Film

Towards the end of his life, Douglas spent a great deal of time and effort trying to get a major motion picture made. He began working on this project since the mid 1980s. Now, four years after his death, the long awaited Hitchhiker's movie will be seen. The script, which was written also with the help of Karey Kirkpatrick and Garth Jennings (the director) will include many variations, including some new material that Adams himself wrote. The film stars Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel, Warwick Davis, Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, John Malkovitch and Stephen Fry (a good friend of Adams) as the voice of the book. It is executive produced by another good friend of Douglas', Robbie Stamp who also worked closely with Douglas on the movie before he died. Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith, known previously for their work on music videos and commercials, are directing and producing, respectively. This is their first movie. It will be released in the UK and Australia on April 28th and the US on April 29th, 2005. It will be released on DVD September 5th, 2005.


Other Versions

In addition to the radio series, book series, TV series, and film, Douglas also brought Hitchhiker's to a few other mediums. It spawned stage adaptions, video games, comics, and a bath towel. Each incarnation can be expected to blatently contradict it's predecessor. It is also important to note that Douglas Adams never wrote with any sort or grand scheme in mind and would often invent his way out of sticky plot situations.